Talk about a crime wave!

On Days of Our Lives during the week of 10-26-20, there were three kidnappings, four people holding others at gunpoint, one shooting, and one attack on a cop.

Most of the violence was short-lived and at least the only shot fired was shot mostly in self-defense. But that was still a lot of violence in a short period of time!

Sadly, most of these stories were pure filler.

Days of Our Lives had planned for a two-week hiatus in August 2020, but since the Olympics were pre-empted the serial needed to insert a quick new storyline now so that Thanksgiving and Christmas wouldn't come early in Salem.

But couldn't they come up with a better story than they did?

Orpheus, Rolf, and Clyde's actions all blended together in my mind into a big lump of pointless violence, with yet another ridiculous supernatural storyline thrown in.

Orpheus' story was the biggest disappointment.

Every time Orpheus reappears, it's the same story. He always breaks out of jail and/or messes with the electricity somehow to claim his victims, then runs around wreaking havoc and kidnapping people for random reasons.

I know I've said this before, but considering what a strong supervillain he was back in the 1980s makes this version of Orpheus even more pathetic.

Once upon a time, he had a strong motivation to seek vengeance against Roman. Now it's been retconned to make his problem be with John and he's obsessed with Marlena for no reason at all.

Not to mention that his plan had an obvious but fatal flaw that Orpheus completely failed to consider.

Orpheus assumed that his son would be eager to get out of Bayview and join him in his life of crime. The idea that Evan/Christian would have a mind of his own and be uninterested in his father's nonsense never occurred to Orpheus.

I don't know why, since Evan's rebellion against his father's evil plans was partially to blame for the accident that killed Adrienne in the first place.

Anyway, this whole get-Evan-out-of-Bayview story was an insult both to viewers' intelligence and to the idea of mental health treatment.

Evan's suicide attempt while in prison was, as usual, nothing more than a plot point. Marlena never once tried to confront Orpheus with the fact that if his son was suicidal, a treatment facility might be the best place for him.

Since the whole thing was off-screen and Evan was not a character that viewers were ever invested in anyway, it was hard to feel anything about his attempt to kill himself... which made it feel like no big deal.

And on top of that, Marlena's insistence on signing him out was entirely unrealistic.

A clearly rattled Marlena came into Bayview in the middle of the night and demanded Evan be released. She had no paperwork, no plan for his transfer or continued treatment, and no real authority.

Dr. Morris could see she was not herself, but put up only the weakest of fights against any of this before giving in to her empty threat to have him removed.

None of this had anything to do with how mental health treatment works. 

And wasn't Dr. Morris recently implicated in some nefarious goings-on with someone or other? I had a feeling like he had been but I can't quite remember.

In any case, it was a shame to use Marlena in this capacity when she could have been put to better use elsewhere.

For example, she could have attempted to evaluate whether Tripp's mental state suggested he was lying about raping Allie or tried to help Allie remember more about that terrible night.

The Clyde-kidnapping-Henry storyline was equally stupid, but since we had to have it, Marlena could have been there to help Allie deal with it instead of running around trying to do Orpheus' bidding.

There also was the issue of John suddenly ceasing to have aneurysm-related issues because it wasn't convenient for the story he was involved in.

John was his old self while confronting Orpheus and mostly himself while questioning Ben. 

It's incredibly annoying when a character's medical condition comes and goes just to suit the plot of the moment. If the writers wanted John to have issues after his aneurysm, they should have commited to that even if it made writing other plots for him more difficult.

Besides, the whole John vs. Orpheus thing didn't make much sense. Orpheus threatened to hurt baby Henry so John turned over his gun to him... and then they played cards for a while until Marlena got there.

That was silly enough, but then Orpheus said he would call once he was out of town but also attempted to tie John and Marlena up, which would stop them from answering the phone.

This whole scenario was campy nonsense that added nothing to Days of Our Lives. 

As for the Allie storyline, the whole babynapping thing has been overdone.

Pretty much every kid in Salem has been stolen before they were old enough to know what was going on, so this was... boring, to say the least.

Allie has a perfectly good storyline going about dealing with having had a child who was conceived via rape. There was no need for this extra drama, and Clyde's plot to steal baby Henry was so obvious that Allie should have seen through it.

Plus, the resolution was predictable. From the moment Henry disappeared, there was no other way it could end other than Allie coming to the conclusion that she loved and wanted to take care of him.

Giant yawn. We knew it was going this way anyway. We didn't need Clyde's antics to get us there.

Kate confronting Clyde was entertaining, though!

No one does the semi-dark diva like Lauren Koslow. Kate vs anyone is always fun. There is no line she won't cross to either get revenge or protect her family.

She was right: Clyde did mess with the wrong person when he stole her great-grandson, and he's lucky she didn't kill him.

That poor kid, though, having to be in Kate's arms while she shot at Clyde!

Also, Clyde's plan was all over the place. He was going to wait for orders from Orpheus. Then he was going to give the baby to Ben to cheer Ben up. Then he was holding onto the baby forever to spite Kate. Then Henry was a liability because his cries might get the cops' attention.

I feel dizzy just writing all that. Sheesh, Clyde, make up your mind!

Meanwhile, Dr. Rolf's attack of Kayla was more campy silliness, except for its aftermath.

The idea of Rolf wanting to implant post-menopausal Kayla with a cloned Stefano embryo was over the top even for him!

I'm not a fan of these supernatural Rolf invention storylines to begin with and I didn't like this one at all. 

And forcing a woman (physically able to or not) to have a baby came off tone-deaf at a time when millions are worried about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade! 

Thank God Steve came to the rescue before it went that far. 

And for once, Days of Our Lives took what happened seriously even though the event itself was silly.

I felt so powerless, so helpless. The last time I felt this way was when Jack raped me.

Kayla

• Permalink: I felt so powerless, so helpless. The last time I felt this way was when Jack raped me.

Unlike most Salem kidnap survivors, Kayla was deeply shaken and upset by what Rolf had done to her. 

And unlike most Salem rape survivors, Kayla connected her feelings of helplessness to how she felt all those years ago when Jack raped her. This was an effective, emotional scene that took rape seriously instead of using it as a plot point like Days of Our Lives too often does.

And although Steve said he would accept it if the DNA test showed Tripp had sex with Allie that night, I doubt that's the end of this. Kayla will believe Allie as a fellow survivor, while Steve will believe his son, and that will likely put a wedge between Steve and Kayla.

Days of Our Lives found the time to deal with a couple of other things once the prisoners were back where they belonged.

Kristen and Lani continued to act more like lovers than friends, while Brady lashed out at Eli for helping send Kristen to jail.

Everyone's attitude towards Kristen's crime is irritating. Yes, Victor made her think her baby was dead. That doesn't excuse her picking up a knife and plunging it into his stomach!

If she'd controlled herself, she wouldn't be going to jail for two to five years. Period.

Meanwhile, there were a ton of emotional scenes surrounding Ciara's memorial.

Those who have recently lost loved ones or who don't like sad scenes probably needed to skip Friday's show, which was dedicated to the preparations for Ciara's memorial.

Julie and Doug's scenes were especially well-done. 

Claire: The tables aren't even set, the buffet isn't out... Damn it! I forgot to call the florist and tell them to make sure to put daisies on the altar.
Julie: At a time like this, nobody cares. People just want to be together. They won't even taste the food and they won't notice the color of the napkins.
Claire: I care! Ciara doesn't deserve some sort of -
Julie: My granddaughter does not deserve to be dead, either!

• Permalink: My granddaughter does not deserve to be dead, either!

Julie balanced her own grief with her need to reassure Claire that Ciara didn't die thinking Claire hated her, and later was a rock for Doug as well.

This felt like a real memorial and as tearjerky as it was, I preferred these sad family scenes to the silliness that defined the rest of the week.

Cady McClain also had a chance to show off her chops as Jennifer discovered Hope's goodbye letter.

I didn't like this abrupt send-off for Hope that was all-too-similar to how Days of Our Lives handled Peter Reckell's exit. But with Kristian Alfonso gone, there weren't many other options available to explain Hope's absence.

I did like Jennifer's emotional response, however. McClain took the opportunity to make this role her own and ran with it, and Jennifer's grief was entirely believable.

The only thing not to like about any of this: Ben's insistence on getting revenge on Vincent.

Days of Our Lives needs to stop relying on these kinds of stories. They're overdone and not enjoyable, and it would have been far more compelling if Ben really had taken a bike ride and had flashbacks of his life with Ciara.

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics!

What did you think of the violence on Days of Our Lives during the week of 10-26-20?

Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know your thoughts!

Eager for more Days of Our Lives chat? Make sure to check back on Sunday for our Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.